Cromwell Dixon: A Boy & His Plane, 1892-1911

Cromwell Dixon: A Boy & His Plane, 1892-1911 by Martin J. Kidston. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781560374732.

Hailed as a mechanical genius in 1907 at the age of 13, teenage inventor Cromwell Dixon built and flew airships in Ohio before signing on with the famous Glenn Curtiss in New York and flying the worlds first airplanes. At age 19, Dixon became the first pilot in history to fly over the Continental Divide. He made the landmark flight from Helena, Montana, in 1911 before a sudden crash took his life three days later in Spokane, Washington. In a richly detailed foreword, Jeff Berry, great-nephew of Cromwell Dixon, reveals family stories about Dixon, including how he built his own roller coaster, two motor-driven bicycles, and, at the age of 15, a pedal-powered airship known as the Skycycle. Berry also shares never-before-seen Dixon family photographs. Like the tale of Icarus, Dixons story is one of great daring, accomplishment, and tragedy.